The present invention relates to an open mold manufacturing process, and more particularly to a manufacturing schedule system in which molds are produced in a sequence exactly to a desired outbound shipping sequence.
Open mold fiberglass reinforced plastic molding systems are well known. Molds typically travel along an assembly line. A plurality of operations are performed at stations along the assembly line until a finished part is removed from the mold at the end of the assembly line. Once demolded, the parts are typically stored in a shipping area such as a loading dock to await loading upon outbound transportation such as a truck. Extra capacity is stored in an inventory. As production often may not exactly meet demand, the inventory may grow rather large requiring a relatively large storage space.
Each unique part requires a particular unique mold. Multiple copies of molds for high demand parts are required to meet particular demands in a given time period. As only a certain number of parts can be produced in a given time period, inventory organization of finished parts and the corresponding molds is paramount. Organization is especially important in a high volume manufacturing environment producing large numbers of unique parts which must be shipped to numerous customers in a “just in time” shipping manner. Typically, a rather large inventory is maintained as a buffer against the potential inability of producing the desired part at the right time and in the right sequence. Inventory is also required as conventional molding facilities may have a rather high scrap rate which effects production of finished parts. Delay in producing a particular part may delay an entire shipment.
Particular customers order particular parts and the parts must be sorted and loaded upon the proper truck. Moreover, to optimize shipping the combination of parts must be arranged in the truck to optimize the “cubing” of the load. That is, proper organization of the parts assures that the truck is fully loaded. Inventory is further maintained as a buffer to assure that the proper parts are always available to properly fill customer requirements in response to truck scheduling and loading.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an open mold manufacturing process which meets stringent scheduling requirements without increasing inventory requirements.